On 10 April, the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking (GRETA) visited the Supreme Court and met with the representative of the Supreme Court – Irīna Jansone, Senator of the Department of Criminal Cases, to discuss issues related to court cases concerning trafficking in human beings.

The experts were interested in the Senate's rulings in trafficking cases where the vulnerability of individuals has been abused, as well as what specific aspects of vulnerability have been abused. Moreover, the researchers were interested in the protection measures applied to child victims of trafficking, in particular with regard to repeated summoning to testify. They also asked whether there have been any cases in the case-law in which victims of trafficking in human beings had claimed compensation from the perpetrator and what were the outcomes of such cases.

Senator Irīna Jansone presented the Senate's practice in human trafficking cases since 2021. The Senator emphasised that the number of cases in this category received by both lower courts and the Senate in the last five years is rather low, and that a lot of these cases are settled in lower courts, thus not reaching the Senate. Instead, the Senate has more often received cases under Section 160 of the Criminal Law concerning the sexual exploitation of minors, but has not found in them any element of trafficking in human beings.

This was the fourth evaluation visit to Latvia of the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking, which took place from 8 to 11 April. The expert group also met with representatives of other institutions involved in the prevention of trafficking in human beings.

 

Information prepared by Iveta Jaudzema, Communication specialist of the Supreme Court

E-mail: iveta.jaudzema@at.gov.lv; telephone: +371 67020362